MH-402 Various Artists - Ten Years Of Mush RecordsCelebrate Ten Years Of Mush Records with a continuous DJ selection (split into two forty minute mixes) fractured, transformed and reconstructed by Thavius Beck. Mix One is the disaffected hopeless romantic of the two; the folk-glitch, post-rock, shoegaze, dream-pop older brother. Mix Two is the kid at the party who can always be counted on to jump into the pool from the roof. All hip-hop and electro power packs, this little brother will have a lot to confess come Sunday. Thavius wears his skills on his sleeve throughout, letting Mix One breathe like a sleepy tiger and giving Mix Two the live treatment like he's DJing to save the planet.

Whether they are made for your own enjoyment, for a party, or to introduce new friends to your music tastes, or simply your latest headspace, compilations are the lifeblood of the music lover.

For many years, meeting up with friends for Christmas drinks largely consisted of intense discussions about our latest choices of listening matter accompanied by the earnest swapping of home made compilation CD “Christmas presents”.

The compilations acted like a snapshot of a particular time and space. They showed where the compiler was looking in their hunt for new music and they also turned me on to a lot of new (and old) music that I was unaware of before.

While home made compilations can be tailored to one particular individual or group of friends, those that are commercially available generally have to rely on packing in the hits, often concentrating on one particular genre to the point of overkill and becoming desperately dull/predictable as a result. In other words, compilations only really become interesting when they get personal.

Happily the new Mush Records compilation, “Ten Years of Mush” is totally personal – with a label that is essentially one person’s project, it has to be. Happily, in these economically challenging times, it is also free.

Mix 1 is overwhelmingly down-tempo yet pleasantly cinematic. The first 20 minutes are more comparable to the sort of music you’d expect to see backing a lo-fi Scottish art house film than anything likely to come out of Hollywood. Ambient electronica, trip hop and understated vocals accompanied by gently simmering guitars give way to glacial, nocturnal beats that would seem perfectly at home in Cold War-era Russia. Think Sigur Ros meets Mogwai, meets Brian Eno.

The mix moves on to more upbeat, tangible songs (they have verses and choruses and everything!) where dub and jaunty indie nestle side by side before disappearing once again into textural dreamscapes and more aggressive hip hop for Mix 2.

All in all, it sounds a lot like John Peel’s Radio show always did. There is the odd artist that you will undoubtedly recognise (Her Space Holiday, Devendra Banhart, Clouddead etc) but, apart from a handful of remixes supplied by other acts (Stereolab, Boards of Canada etc) the bulk is made up of artists (and sounds) you almost certainly won’t. And in the context of a compilation, that is no bad thing. - Indieoma